Grim Dawn - Greetings from Jalex

My name is Jesse (in unison, “Hi Jesse”) AKA “Jalex” - the newest member of the Grim Dawn team! I’ve joined up as a designer and my main responsibilities will be creating beautiful (but twisted) playspaces, and filling them up with enemies you can hack, slash, and shoot your way through. In addition I’ll be writing and implementing fun quests that thematically fit the world.

Like Zantai, I’m a refugee of 38 Studios. When it closed - scratch that - imploded violently, my love of Titan Quest (and the modding tools!) drove me to contact Arthur about working on Grim Dawn, probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while.

At 38, I was a Content Designer on an unreleased MMO codenamed Copernicus. My job was creating playspaces, filling them up with enemies, and creating quests that thematically fit the world. If that sounds similar to what I wrote above – that’s a good thing! I plan on taking everything I learned at 38 and put it to good use here. Obviously MMO’s and ARPG’s are a bit different beasts, but they share a lot of common design principles when it comes to providing you, the player, the best experience possible.

Prior to joining 38, I worked on several small teams, learning not only about design, but how to manage scope, wear a lot of hats, work with other disciplines, and meet deadlines. My most recent released title is Hamster: Attack! - where I designed all of the levels – it’s cute, cartoony, and casual – and I never want to do anything like that again.

The Grim Dawn setting is one that really resonates with me, and the game, even at this early state… simply amazing. It’s an indy venture, brought up to this state by barely a handful of people, and not backed by a big publisher. On the surface, that might seem risky - With Zantai, I just spent the last year of my life working on something that no one will ever see, outside of either of our control – So I’m sensitive to that kind of thing.

But just spending a couple of days in the game, and creating bits and pieces of content, I know this game will not only ship, but thrill players and critics alike- and I’m going to do my utmost to make sure that happens!
Thank you all for supporting Grim Dawn, and I’m truly honored to be a part of this community.